Practicing What I Preach.?.?.???

There are several catch phrases that I have used with my children since they were tiny.

Examples:

  • “Life is HARD. Get used to it.”
  • “Life’s NOT FAIR. Get used to it.”
  • “Don’t just SAY’Yes, Ma’am,’ DO ‘Yes, Ma’am.'”

As well as many Biblical principals that I repeat often:

  • “If it’s not immediate obedience, it’s disobedience.”   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Kids: “But why?”  Me:  “Sometimes, it’s just because I said so.”
  • “Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.'”
  • “Be careful the company you keep. (Using a saying a Pastor friend says.) ‘If you’re hanging with monkeys, you’ll swing from trees.  If you lay down with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas.'”

 

The first one in this second list has come back to bite me this week.  I have realized recently that if I don’t like the idea I tend to argue, rationalize, suggest better ideas, etc.  God is gently reminding me HE doesn’t need my help or suggestions; HE wants my obedience, even if I don’t like the situation or understand any of what’s going on.  Just obey.

I expect it of my kids.  God expects it of me.

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Advocate: a voice for those without

A lot has happened since I last posted.  I’ll make no promises here about my schedule for posting, as my focus now needs to be on my books, but I plan to post more regularly.

My main focus as of late has been in helping some ministries get off the ground and trying to make a difference in DeSoto County, MS.  A couple of years ago I was at a human trafficking awareness conference in our area that was being put on by Express Missions International ( http://www.expressmissions.com ) and met a man who was talking about God calling them to start a safe house for those rescued from human trafficking in our area.

They were expecting it to take a long time for the paperwork and non-profit status to be completed, but it took a very short amount of time, and 51 South Foundation was born .  51 South houses those rescued as well as provides the necessities of food, clothing, toiletries, etc., and also coordinates counseling, rehabilitation, and job training.   ************  http://www.51south.org/           FACEBOOK: http://www.51south.org/

Not long after 51 South began to organize another group call R3 the Movement (Reach Rescue Redeem) began to gather their paperwork to file for their non-profit status.  R3 actually does a lot that I don’t even understand yet.  Some of their main functions are to support 51 South by providing the essentials in the form of a backpack full of goodies when the girls/ladies are rescued. (This is where I come in, but more on that later.)  R3 also is a voice in the community as well as in the government:  bringing awareness, coordinating internet safety classes, and promoting legislative measures to help the victims as well as to inhibit and kill the machines feeding the human trafficking industry.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING is quickly overtaking Drug Trafficking as the largest source of illegal income WORLDWIDE.  It’s renewable/reusable, you don’t have to grow/acquire more. . . . . It’s gaining momentum and has to be stopped!!!

These organizations are making a difference right here in our own backyard.  Once rescued, these ladies have nothing but the clothes on their backs.  That’s where I come in.

I am the coordinator for the Backpacks to Freedom for R3. (REACH. RESCUE. REDEEM.)
We have lists and flyers we use for drives.
The tri-fold (2 documents-inside and cover) is probably the best one if you’re going to share/handout.  It has the list of all the items we put in a backpack.
There is one for the bulletin board.
The 5-page packet is information for you about what R3 is.
If you are interested in doing/coordinating a drive to make a difference here in the  DeSoto County / MidSouth area please send me a message using this link:  http://www.r3themovement.org/#!contact/cbys  
We need Backpacks year round.  We give them to the girls at the safe houses as well as through local law enforcement.
You can see more about R3 on the website:  www.R3theMovement.org
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/R3themovement
Help us make a difference for those trapped in this modern-day slavery.
Each of the websites above have a link where you can securely donate.  All funds go directly to help those in need, NOT into the pockets of the coordinators.  We are all volunteers who work without salary.  We just want to make a difference.  Join us.

FEW

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Along with the 5-6 books I’m reading (Yes, I’m reading them.  I just have ADHD and start more before I finish others, so I bounce around from one to another til I finish one and add more to the pile. 🙂  What can I say?  It’s how I am.), I’m doing a Bible Study on the Fruit of the Spirit.

Part of this week’s study is talking about what the life of a Christian looks like that is “Crucified with Christ.”  There are 10 characteristics listed and at the end of that part of the study we were asked to share which characteristic most stood out to us.  The one I chose was, “Few will understand.”

From the beginning of my Christian walk (March 1993), it has saddened me the most that many closest to me don’t share my faith in Jesus.  I want nothing more than to know that when I go HOME that ALL of my friends and family will either be waiting on me there or will “meet me when their chores are through.” [I cry every time I hear that song:

– I’m crying now just listening to it to copy the link address here.)

My heart aches for ALL to come to know Jesus – to really KNOW HIM, not know of Him or that yes He exists – BUT to KNOW HIM as a true friend knows another.

By the way, here’s another that makes me bawl every time I hear it:

Mission Not Impossible

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I posted this on Facebook originally, Saturday, 01/17/2015

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I’m reading ‪#‎KillingCockroaches‬ by ‪#‎TonyMorgan‬ & this really struck me. He’s talking about ‪#‎Starbucks‬ here:
“*Community. ‘Starbucks filled America’s need for a public gathering spot – a “third place,” with home and work being place one and two. This became Starbucks’ community rally cry: It wasn’t a coffee company, but a place for bringing people together through the social glue of coffee.’ Here’s an example of a need that people had that could have easily been filled by the church. Maybe we’re too focused on arguing about what we’re against instead of being what the church was intended to be in people’s lives.”

When people would rather congregate at Starbuck’s or other place “where everybody knows your name, & they’re always glad you came,” we’re failing as a church. When we as the body of Christ have become a picture of boredom & irrelavence (sp?) & convey that through our individual church bodies we have a problem. When who gets to serve the food, pick the color of the carpet/wall, or when our next pot luck will be, become the only things we worry about & things we argue over, we have LOST sight of our MISSION.
We are to LOVE God & LOVE people. Jesus came to seek & save the lost. That is our mission as HIS body. We are to “go & make disciples.” We are to “seek first the kingdom of God.”
We have to get back to the first things, our first “LOVE.”

Repost from Prev. Blogger 09/12/11, 09/13/11, & 09/14/11 You need to put your Hair Back ON

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In my original post this was spread over 3 days, but I wanted to share it all at once for a friend here.

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This blog is kinda long so – I’ve spread it out over the next 3 days.  

 

This was also written as I was recovering from brain surgery at my parents home – in the wee hours of the morning on 08/08/2009.

 

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     I sit here writing – head shave of my own free will – thanks largely to my BFF, Amanda.  I enlisted her when I made the decision to enact my last fleeting effort to remain in control.  I told her what I wanted and asked her to look up “Locks of Love” on the internet to see what it too to be able to donate hair to them so they could use it to make a wig for someone else.  So she did and we found out how long, where to send, etc., and my mind was made up.  I was making one last statement – “I’m STILL in CONTROL!!!”

 

     She had gone with me for my pre-surgery blood work the week before surgery, and now we were down to the day before surgery.  We had already had the boys birthday parties early together to make sure they had a nice party to remember before my final – as I saw it – TRAGEDY hit.  BUT Amanda had decided to give them a party with two of their cousins at Chuck E. Cheese the day before surgery.  So the day before surgery was all scheduled out.

 

     First Amanda met mom and I at the Dr’s office, where I was getting the final MRI done to use as part of the computer technology they were going to use during surgery.  Mom and I arrive and the lady explained all that they were doing.  Dr. Boop had already explained so I didn’t mind the weirdness and understood (so I thought) what was going on.  The lady took me back and asked me to sin in a chair and hold my hair back.  She began sticking things on my forehead, near my ears, and on the nap of my neck that resembled corn pads the size of those stick-on hole reinforcements we used back in our school days.  When she was finished, she used a purplish color radiation marker to mark a circle around each.  

          As she was doing this, I asked, “Now how do I get these things off?”  They felt gross – extremely sticky, icky, gooey.

 

          She said, “You don’t.  These have to stay on for surgery tomorrow.”

 

          I’m thinking, “Whoa – WAIT A MINUTE – I’ve got things to do, places to go, people to see. . . I can’t go around with gummy, corn-pad-reinforcement thingies all over my head all day.  I have a birthday party to go to!!! What will the kids think?!?!?! – – – – I still need to shower again before morning!!!”  And the thoughts went on and on. . . My CONTROL was fleeting fast than a I cared to admit.  So I resolved then and there with an UNWAVERING DETERMINATION that this was IT – the absolute last act of my own was to be – to shave my head.  No more doubts – THE HAIR was COMING OFF . . . ASAP – ALL or NOTHING!!!  “If I’m gonna go around looking like an idiot with these ‘things’ stuck to my head, then I’m gonna look like I have a reason for it.”

 

     So they put me in the room to do the MRI.  The little nurse was praying all the time that she would hit the vein on the first try to put the dye in.  She did, which was rare; so we all did the happy praise God dance.  They did the scan, and as soon as it was over we waited on the copies of the discs we needed: one to take with us for surgery the next day and one for dad to put with my records that he was keeping.  We thanked the nurses and left.
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Continued tomorrow . . .

 

 

. . . Continued from yesterday

 

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     As we were leaving the Dr’s office, Amanda met us in the parking lot, and we made plans for breakfast.  We decided on Perkin’s.  I rode with Mom, and Amanda followed.  

 

     We had a pleasant breakfast.  The staff went out of their way to ask my name so they could pray for me during surgery the next morning.  I felt so blessed – never has a server asked to pray for me for anything, much less the whole staff.  (My hat’s off to Perkin’s in Memphis at Humphreys/Wolf River Blvd and Germantown Rd.  Thank you for your hospitality!)  I was soaking in the last fleeting glimpse of self control I had left.  On the way to the restaurant I had made a point to finally mention a few details of my funeral that I wanted mom to take car of – knowing the thought had crossed her mind too – but until these last views of hope that I could make out, I couldn’t muster the the courage to speak any of those words out loud until that point (I had done the same with my husband the night before).  So having said all I said in the van on the way to breakfast mom’s heart was very heavy and we were all a bit tearful, though very-matter-of-fact though out breakfast.  Holding together – on edge – when just a wispy wind would have sent us all three plummeting into the abyss below.  BUT GOD held us together.  We finished breakfast. And parted ways.

 

     Mom went to work so she could finish up some things, so she could be off for as long as necessary.  So Amanda and I headed off on My MISSION – that was yet to be fully divulged to my then 29-year BFF.  She knew I wanted to shave it.  However, she didn’t realize I wanted to do it immediately.  

 

     I had told her that I had made up my mind and wanted it shaved before we went to meet the kids.  I asked her could we find a beauty supply or something of the sort so I could get a wrap or a hat, as to not totally freak the kids out when we got to the party.  She immediately spotted a cute little beauty supply boutique.   As soon as we got out the first thing I saw was a metallic blue wig in the window display.  I said, “There! That’s what I want!  If I wear that Daddy won’t care that I shaved my head; he’ll just want me to get rid of the blue hair!”  So with light-hearted laughter we entered the store only to notice that the whole back of it was filled with wigs.  I was thinking, “WOW! I bet those are expensive.”  And some were, BUT surprisingly most were less than $50.  I could handle that.  

 

     I didn’t go in looking for a wig, but empowered with mom’s credit card in my pocketbook, I decided, for my dad’s sake to get one.  I’m not sure why he was so adamant that I not shave my head, but he did NOT like the idea at all.  My guess from hindsight is that it brings back too many painful memories of all the years of cancer treatment at St. Jude and the previous three times I’ve lost my hair – as well as the fact, that his mom (whom I’m about the spitting image of) died of breast cancer in our home, after she had also lost her hair with chemo and radiation – September 1, 2010, will be the 20th anniversary.

 

     Selfishness on my part I guess, I was determined to enact my LAST-FINAL-Tiny bit of CONTROL.  My thought was, “They have to shave the part near the front anyways.  I have a perm, so however it comes back it’s not going to match what ‘s left.  I know it’s cancer ’cause the dr. said that’s usually what he sees with what this one looks like, so I’m gonna lose my hair anyway with chemo and whatever else I have for treatment. It’s gotta go! AND it’s Gonna GO – MY WAY!”  – as if I was singing the Elvis classic, outta tune.

 

     So here we were at the beauty supply.  The little oriental lady spoke very broken English but was very polite.  She wanted to know my name, and why I was shopping for a wig.  I told her the short version of the story, she began to share about her sister who had cancer.  She promised to pray for me and ask us to do the same for her sister.  We told her we would.

 

     She helped me find wig I liked.  I chose a short one that I thought I could deal with.  She helped me match the color, then we proceeded toward the front.  I picked out a pink head wrap and a black one.  Then Amanda found a cute little brown hat that I “needed” – said it was “me” – all chocolate and coffee colored.

 

     Before we checked out, Amanda found a pair of of over-sided white sunglasses that matched her style. We paid for our things and then left on My MISSION.

 

     As soon as we arrived home with little time to spare.  I called my sister-in-law to give her a “heads up” about My MISSION.  She was keeping my kids while we went to the dr. appt. and was going to meet us Chuck E. Cheese at the appointed time.  I spoke with the boys on the phone and made a special point to give them a “heads up” as well.  So warnings in place – the MISSION began. 

 

     I pulled out the package of 500 black elastic “non-tangling” (NOT!) rubber bands I had bought for no occasion at all, but figure this would be the perfect one to use them.  I started the job, but Amanda took over quickly b/c I wasn’t doing so good since I couldn’t see what I was doing.  It all had to be in tiny pony tails, a minimum of 10″ long each when straightened to be able to be used by “Locks of Love”.  So Amanda sectioned, banded and tightened . . . over and over and over until every strand had a home.  

 

     Then the real MISSION began. . . to the bathroom to use the WAHL electric razor for the deed.  Each little pony tail, one by one, fell to the floor.  When all was done I gathered them all up and put them in a large manilla envelope to prepare for mailing.  There were however a couple of sections too short to send so Amanda asked to keep one, and I put a piece away for Andrew as well.

 

     The deed was done – MISSION accomplished.  Now on to the birthday party. . .

 

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Continued tomorrow . . .

 

 

. . . Continued from yesterday

 

To help with the confusion on the dates let me add this.  

This was written as I was recovering at my parents home 08/08/2009.  

However the date of the actual events of this and the previous 2 blogs 

was 07/28/2009 (the day before surgery)

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     We were off to Chuck E. Cheese.  I had put on my wig and a pink “Hannah Montana” wide headband to calm the shock of the children.  I had warned mine, but unless Margaret told her girls, they had no idea.  When we arrived, the kids looked at me and smiled, no worse for the experience.  I was just “hey mommy / hey Aunt Angie” – no difference.  

 

     You have to understand, as I may have already mentioned, this is surgery #8 in 10 years.  They’ve seen me at my worst more than once.  Micah – who will be 8 tomorrow (as of the original writing 08/08/2009) – was born by Classic C-Section after 36 hours of labor that would not budge him.  Then 2 years almost to the day his baby brother, Aaron – who turned 6 yesterday – arrived the same way – Classic C-Section.  After Aaron was born in August, we discovered on Christmas Eve that I had an incisional hernia. Ended up having 3 hernia surgeries, the last of which I thought was gonna kill me.

 

     Surgery after surgery, staples, stitches, complications, the kids were used to mommy being “sick”.  That was pretty well their “normal”.  Mommy gets sick, mommy goes to the dr., mommy can’t pick us up or carry us anymore.  So that day was just another normal “Mommy’s gotta go to the dr. again” for them, and I was relieved that they weren’t shocked.

 

     So there I was wearing the wig and headband with freshly cut hair and itching like crazy.  I took it as long as I could stand it, then I just took the dumb thing off.  “Who care! Not me!  And the kids are fine.  I can’t stand it any longer!”  So I took it off.  Now here comes the funny part.  My niece, Cassie, who is exactly 6 months younger than Aaron, spots me from her token-dropping-ticket-winnings half way across the restaurant.  She stops everything to come and stand at the end of the table and proceeded to tel me, “Aunt Angie, you need to put your hair back on.  You don’t look like ‘Aunt Angie’ with out it.”  She finished what she had to say then wen on about her business of token-dropping and ticket-winning without waiting for a response of any kind.

 

     I may have obliged her request except for the insistent itching that went along with the ordeal AND the fact that my LAST act of DEFIANCE & CONTROL was before me, & not my Daddy, & not my Abba Father, & definitely NOT a 5 year old was gonna make me do ANYTHING that I MYSELF did not decide on my own without anyone else’s suggestions having any input.

 

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     I can’t tell you that all my defiance and control tendencies are gone, but I can tell you that they are not as bad as they use to be.  I know that there’s no perfection on this side of HOME, but I can do my best to reach  for the standard Jesus set.  When I fall, I can get up, ask forgiveness, and begin again.  That’s all HE asks – obedience, and don’t quit.  I just heard the song, “Move” by Mercy Me on the radio.  That’s my motto right now.  Here’s the lyrics, maybe they’ll help you too.

 

I’m not about to give up

Because I heard you say

There’s gonna be brighter days

There’s gonna be brighter days

I wont stop, Ill keep my head up

No, I’m not here to stay

There’s gonna be brighter days

There’s gonna be brighter days

 

I just might bend but wont break

As long as I can see your face

 

When life wont play along

And right keeps going wrong

And I cant seem to find my way

I know where I am found

So I wont let it drag me down

Oh, I’ll keep dancing anyway

 

I’m gonna move (move)

I’m gonna move (move)

I’m gonna move

 

Ive got to hold ‘er steady

Keep my head in the cage

Everything is about to change

Everything is about to change

This hurt is getting heavy

But I’m not about to cave

Everything’s about to change

There’s gonna be brighter days

 

I just might bend but wont break

As long as I can see your face

 

[Chorus]

 

No matter what may come

Gotta move to a different drum

No matter what life brings

Gotta move gotta move to a different beat [x2]

 

I just might bend but wont break

As long as I can see your face

 

-Mercy Me

 

Word of the Year

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I know I did not blog much last year, but as plans go, I plan to be more consistent this year.  Last year part of me was angry at the fact that I had to change blogging sites, and relearn the format.  Another was angry at the way it happened and that someone was holding my website hostage and telling me I couldn’t have it back unless I paid them $249.00.  I am such a creature of habit that I wanted this new blog to have all my old blogs here and for everything to look the same and be the same.  So I froze and had a pity party for a while.  I’m over it now, and will move on.  I may, over time, post some of my old blogs here, but my focus will be new material as life lends to the sharing.  So here I am.

Over the past few years, instead of resolutions I have had a word focus for the year.  I know this seems to be the trend these days, but it happened to me before I ever knew it was a trend, and I tend to be anti-trendy anyway.

The first time it happened it was just a verse that kept coming up over and over and over.  Every where I turned: on the wall in a hospital lobby, in the devotion I read, on a random verse I picked out of a jar at a dr appt.  “Be still and know that I AM God.” – Psalm 46:10.  Over and over and over.  Then in June of that year (2009) I found out I had a brain tumor.  Wow!  I had to lean into that verse for the rest of the year.

I don’t remember specific verses or words for 2010 or 2011.  But in 2012 it was focusing on the perfection of God.

2013 was the word PEACE.  We began homeschooling in January of 2011 and now all I felt was chaos all around me.  We knew that that was what God had called us to do, but I felt inadequate for the task at hand.  God kept speaking peace over me all that year.

2014 was GRACE.  We had seen the movie Grace Card and God spent the year having me read and study about His grace.  I’ve always leaned toward legalism, because I can grasp rules/laws and a check list of do’s and don’ts.  BUT God was bent on ruining my way of thinking in favor of grace.  After watching the movie, I instituted a “Grace Card” with my boys.  They get one per week to spend to avoid losing a privilege or gaining a discipline for certain things.  There are however a few things they cannot use a grace card for (i.e., shirking responsibilities, or for something they have been repeatedly warned about).

2015.  I’ve thought and prayed, and really thought God was not going to give me a word for this year, but it came to me yesterday.  DESIRE.  More than just a word, it came in a phrase: “To DESIRE Jesus more than what HE can do for me.”  When that came to me I realized I’ve spent the last few years in selfish mode – “WHAT ABOUT ME!!!” focused on me.  So my constant prayer for this year is going to be “LORD, give me a hunger and a thirst for YOU, that I may desire YOU more than anything YOU can give me or do for me.  Give me a desire to be with YOU, and just be in YOUR presence.  To need to be with YOU and nothing else.”

This song says it all: (copy & paste to listen)

I want this to be able to be said of me.

Give Me Jesus Lyrics

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me JesusGive me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me JesusWhen I am alone
When I am alone
Oh, when I am alone
Give me JesusGive me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me JesusJesus
Give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
Oh, when I come to die
Give me Jesus

Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING 07-18-2011

Previously posted on my Facebook NOTES

by Angie Fleener Walthall on Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:05pm

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These are not my words. However, as I always say, I thought the message too good not to share.

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ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING:

I received this story in an email from my mother:

Read this LET IT REALLY SINK IN . . . THEN CHOOSE:

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John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’ He was a natural motivator.

 

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.  

 

 

Seeing his style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’

 

He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today:

1) You can choose to be in a good mood or . . . 

2) you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.’

 

‘Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or . . . I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.’ 

 

‘Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or . . . I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

 

 

’’Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.

 

‘Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘It’s all about choices . When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.

*You choose how you react to situations.

*You choose how people affect your mood.

*You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’

I reflected on what he said. Soon Thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

 

 

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.  After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins. . . . Wanna see my scars?’ 

 

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. 

 

‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or . . . I could choose to die. I chose to live.’  

 

‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked.

 

He continued, ‘ . . . the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’

 

‘What did you do?’ I asked.

 

‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ‘She asked if I was allergic to anything. Yes, I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity!‘ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’  

 

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude . . . .

 

 

I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

 

 

Attitude, after all, is everything. 

 

 

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34  

 

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

 

 “. . . choose you this day whom you will serve. . . . As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15  

 

 

 

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

 

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

 

Pretty Little Box 07-17-2011

I’ve come to realize over the last few years that I’m what I’ve come to call a “once-and-for-all” kinda girl.  I don’t like the things I have to do over and over and over and over, which I’ve come to realize is the majority of things in life: bills, laundry, dishes, cleaning up the living room, vacuuming the floor, pulling weeds, cleaning the toilets, and unfortunately the list goes on and on and on. . . .  I would rather be able to do something very well once, tie it up in a nice package with a beautiful bow on top, and put it away, knowing “I’ll never have to deal with that again.” Yet, very few things in life afford us such a luxury.

God teaches me so much, even through the mundane, every day stuff, that much of the time is the stuff that I hate doing.  He’s constantly reminding me: 1) that this world is not my home, 2) it’s never going to be perfect here, so don’t waste too much time trying to make it perfect (b/c even if it seems that way for the moment – it will NOT remain that way in the long run), and 3) the only thing tied up in a neat little box with a beautiful bow is the fact that I’ll be in Heaven with Him one day because of the price that Jesus paid for me on the cross – and the rest of the stuff will be insignificant then.  The only thing that matters in this life is LOVING Him and LOVING others.  The greatest commandments according to Jesus when asked  36  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40

So I’m trying to learn to keep my priorities straight.  Sure we should be good stewards of all the nice things God has provided for us, but remember that  we are stewards, not owners/masters (sole person owning and in charge of property) or slaves (held against your will, made to work without compensation).

So be a good steward, take care of what you have until directed to give it away or share it with others in order that they may know the Father’s Love as well.  But don’t let what you are to be a steward of become your master.  Sin comes in many forms and when God confronted Cain BEFORE he killed his brother Abel HE said, “7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)   If he had obeyed, maybe term “Raising Cain” would have a positive connotation.

Even in doing good/lawful/okay “stuff” we can go overboard or have it work against us. “12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” (I Corinthians 6:12) I usually put this particular scripture selection in context with foods I shouldn’t eat.  I’ve learned recently that I am lactose intolerant.  I love many things that contain milk.  It’s Biblically and worldly permissible/lawful for me to eat/drink things with milk in them.  HOWEVER, and this is a HUGE HOWEVER, it is NOT profitable for me AT ALL.  I gain no nutritional value, and actually lose the value of anything else eaten along side of it.

So in conclusion:

1 – There are very few “Pretty Little Boxes” in this world – don’t get stuck in a rut of trying to make more

 

2 – Be a good steward – BUT don’t let the STUFF master you

 

3 – Not every ‘good’ thing is going to be ‘good’ for you, much less profitable

 

 

 

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

 

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.

 

Mosquitoes, Fleas, & Pests . . .OH MY!!! 07-16-2011

Did you ever wonder “Why in the world did God create a mosquito???” or “What was He thinking when He decided to add gnats, flies, roaches, tics, fleas, termites, or any other pest you’ve encountered to the list of ‘THING I THINK I’D LIKE TO CREATE TODAY’???”  Other than feeding frogs, aardvarks, and armadillos (or “enchiladas” as my niece calls them), what possible purpose could they serve in God’s BIG PICTURE?  After years and years of pondering this, seemingly less than life-altering question, I think I may have an answer, and believe it or not, it was life-altering to me.

We’ve heard and said over and over again that “This world is not our home.”  We’ve also heard and quoted verses like “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”(Colossians 3:2),  and also “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal./For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:20-21)  Though I may be wrong, I’ve come to the conclusion that the mosquitoes causing us grief, flies disrupting our meals, gnats invading our picnics, termites eating our homes, tics tormenting our pets, fleas biting our ankles, ants in the sugar bowl, weevils in the flour, roaches just totally grossing us out, are some of the ways God set up as reminders that “THIS WORLD IS NOT YOUR HOME, so DON’T get too comfortable.”  And uses them to tells us, “Remember why I saved you and left you there, rather than bringing you straight home to be with ME.  Go be about MY business as long as I leave you there, because as long as you’re still breathing you still have a mission and a purpose there on earth.”

So now, every time you’re bitten, bothered, or simply grossed out by the pests that surround us in THIS world, think, “What do I need to be doing to reach people for the NEXT WORLD?”

 

 

 

******************

Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

************

BibleGateway

Search the Bible

for what you need:

http://www.biblegateway.com/

.

This is an invaluable tool & time-saver for me.

Many times I know what I’m looking for or even generally where to find it, but can’t put my finger on it.

This helps so much.

 

There are also Reading Plans available, including:

a One Year Bible, and a

One Year Chronological Bible – this one is my favorite

for my own personal reading, it gives me a better understanding of the BIG picture.